A 16-year old Louisiana teen who was seen by millions of online viewers being whipped by his uncle because of online gang activity was found murdered in New Orleans last week.
Michael Taylor had been posting messages on his Facebook page earlier this year when his uncle found out about it. To make an example out of the youth, the uncle made a video of himself whipping the teen with a belt, while telling him to admit to the camera that the gang ties he had been bragging about were fake.
“Y’all parents all these senseless f*cking crimes… all this gangbang sh*t. This my f*cking nephew right here,” the uncle says in the video, pointing at Michael. “He aint no gangbanger, we don’t come from that sh*t.”
“All that’s fake,” Michael said, before his uncle whipped him.
When the video hit the internet in January 2011 most people applauded the uncle for his actions. As it turns out the video did nothing to prevent Michael from meeting a tragic fate.
BlackAmericaWeb.com is reporting that the teen’s mom had been keeping close tabs on him, making him stay within eyesight whenever he went outside. On the night he was killed he received a text message and went outside to talk. Not too long afterwards his mother, Kimberly Ward, said her daughter received a text message saying Michael had been shot and killed.
“I came home and saw my son on the ground,” Ward said.
Police say they have no suspects or motives in the December 7th shooting, but witnesses said they saw two men approach Michael and open fire, hitting him multiple times in the torso.
Stacey Patton, who runs the website SpareTheKids.com said she wasn’t surprised to hear about Michael’s murder after seeing the video of him being whipped.
“I am not surprised to hear that this young man’s life has ended violently. When I saw the video, I kept thinking that by beating this youth, the uncle was setting him up for some kind of tragedy, either prison or an early grave,” she said. “I don’t understand why more people don’t make the connection between how children are dealt with at home and the larger societal impact. Studies show that maltreated youth make up a disproportionate number of youth involved in school and gang violence. Violent parental discipline increases the risk that a child will act violently later in life. The use of violent discipline teaches children that violence is an appropriate means of shaping behavior and solving problems. Physically disciplining a child has no positive impact for the child, that child’s relationship with the parents, or the larger community.”
Ok, so where’s the rest of this story?
Stacey is one of those parents you see in the supermarket with the kids running wild falling on the floor having temper tantrum because they can’t have their way. My mother spanked me my cousins were spanked my sob was spanked as well as my husband and guess what WE ARE ALL PRODUCTIVE CITIZENS IN SOCIETY AND WE HAVE NO HISTORY OF VIOLENCE. Apparently STACEY does not read here Bible. Spare the rod… Spoil the child. Because parents have lost control ofer their kids is the reason society us out of control along with prayer out of school. He was not killed bcause he was spanked.